Zone 2 Addiction and the Dopamine Economy
- The Center for Human Tech founder, Tristan Harris, is quoted describing modern technology development as a “race to the bottom of the brainstem”. Technology that is developed with the intention of getting people addicted causes harm.
- In “The Social Dilemma” there are multiple accounts of kids and teens talking about their phone dependence. Additionally, the poem “Maybe it Was the Damn Phones” has graphic depictions of phone dependence.
Zone 3: Economic and Asset Inequalities
In the Digital Social Work Map shown in the first Perusal assignment, we discussed data justice and digital equity. Both concepts are responses to this risk zone. The Perusal conversation illuminated examples of this risk zone
- Lack of digital literacy causes barriers to accessing care.
- Lack of appropriate physical capital such as a phone or internet is a barrier to accessing care.
Zone 6 Implicit Trust and User Understanding
- In the podcast episode, People are Lonelier than Ever, Enter AI, Sherry Turkle discusses AI companion website protocol. She says that there is a sign stating that the bot is not human. At one point, one website made their sign less noticeable and then reverted back. Companies do not always have transparent systems.
- In the podcast episode Could AI Go Rouge?, Tristan Harris says that he gets frequent calls from people who have delusions related to AI use. Users who trust what AI tells them may be vulnerable to believing delusions.
Zone 8 Hateful and Criminal Actors
- People, especially young people, are vulnerable to coercion and violence on the internet. In The Social Dilemma, a team of people posed as teens to coax out predators.
- In the podcast episode Could AI Go Rouge?, one of the guests references troubling AI developer mindsets. Some developers have accepted that AI may cause mass destruction, but they are ok with the risk if it is their own AI doing it.
I liked your example for the People are Lonelier than Ever, Enter AI podcast. I found it concerning that it did not seem that companies were being very transparent in how they presented their AI technology. I can’t understand why they would not want to be transparent about someone speaking with AI. You would think that they would want transparency there, even if it was just to save them for suing reasons.